


The Monsters We Hide

by Mae34



Series: Little Red [1]
Category: Batman (Comics), Supernatural, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Purgatory, Robins! In Space!...I mean Purgatory, Season 8 Supernatural
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-24
Updated: 2016-07-24
Packaged: 2018-07-16 22:46:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7287715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mae34/pseuds/Mae34
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When in Purgatory, Dean and Co. comes across a boy trying to get to a home he doesn't remember. Dean figured, sure, they already had the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion. Why not add Toto in their messed-up group? However, if they ran across a girl with red shoes, someone was going to seriously get an ax to the neck.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_“No!”_

He doesn't remember much about the 'before'. Sure, he remembers the possibility of a 'before' the deep, dark woods and he can still hear the echo of laughter in his mind.

His laughter.

The memories of those times, however, remained hidden in his mind like a gray mist and would only reflect shadows whenever he had a brief reprieve. Literally. Shadows. That was all he had.

There was a clear and distinct line where the muddy memories and the sharp, crisp moments in the time of 'now'. One day. It could have been on any given day: Sunday, Friday, Clear, rainy. He woke up in the woods to the sounds of howling. Quick on his feet, because apparently, being quick was something important and he did well at that, he jumped up and scanned the area before he even realized what was going on or question who he even was.

Most people, he would guess later, would worry more about the blanks.

He saw nothing to connect the sounds he heard but some greater instinct told him that he was surrounded and that there was danger somewhere behind those trees.

_Find the advantage. Get to higher ground._

He wasn't going to question the voice in his mind. Not when the howling stopped and was replaced with a low growl.

Correction. Many low growls.

From all around him.

He jumped as high as he could to grab onto the first branch above him. A quick swing and his feet were on the same branch. Many more jumps and swings and he was able to reach as high as the strongest branch that could hold his weight. He looked down at the creatures converging at the base of his tree. Six...no seven gathered around his lone tree.

He didn't know what these creature were. They looked human except for the excessive amount of body hair and there were points on their hands that were much too sharp to be fingers.

“Look what we have here,” one of the creatures called out to to the others, not quite clear from where he sat but he would take a guess that the sharp fangs could impede any clear conversation from happen. How he knew this, he couldn't tell.

“Fresh meat!” The growls and yips grew louder all round at the declaration.

Could they climb too? If they were human, they might be able to reach him.

As if to test that theory, one of the creatures jumped up and its sharp not-fingers dug hard into the bark of the tree. His immediate reaction was to reach for something at his belt only to come up with nothing. Panic didn't set in until that point. His breath hitched and he patted the baggy sweatshirt he was wearing like he could do anything, he could save the world, if he just had his damn belt.

And honestly, if he thought too much about it, he should be panicking more because he had no idea what a belt could do.

'No doubt about it,' he thought as watching the creature try to rip his claws out of the tree so it could reach the first branch up.

He was defenseless.

_You are only defenseless if you think you are._

_Think!_

The creature was having problems getting up to the branch. Too heavy to hold the creature's weight, he didn't realize just how small and light he was until the branch shook so violently in objection of its new inhabitant. He had that for an advantage then. They would have to rely entirely on their claws to get up the trunk of the tree.

He could use that.

“Come on, Little Red,” one on the ground yelled back up to him, presumably the leader of the pack. “Come on down. We haven't had a snack since we got here.”

Ew. No.

“Little piggy, little piggy, let me in!” Another called out, causing a ripple of laughter among the others. “Come on down or we'll blow your house down!”

He didn't exactly know what was meant by that until he looked down to his wardrobe. The lack of a belt was hard to handle, but the cape and hood he was wearing felt like...home. The black in the sweatshirt was a bit confusing like he shouldn't be the one hiding in the dark, but the red in the hood was familiar if not perplexing. His clothing was out of order, he was sure of it.

But he at least knew enough about fairy tales to know that the idiot below was getting his stories mixed up.

The creature climbing the tree gave up on the branch by now and strictly stuck to attaching itself to the trunk.

_Think!_

Right. What did he have? He was stuck in a tree without a clue who he was or how he got here. He was surrounded by a pack of creatures out of some horror movie with no normal means of defense and no idea if reinforcements were coming.

No.

No, that was what he didn't have. What did he have?

Sweatshirt and jeans. Sneakers. A red riding hood. A tree. Pine-

There.

The tree was a variety of pine that he was unfamiliar with, but he had easy access to as many pine needles and pine cones as he could ever desired. He plucked one of the pine cones and examined it. There must not be much water out where he was because the cone came off easily and just started to crumble in his hand as he slightly squeezed it.

It was perfect.

Now if only his aim was just as good. He might actually have a shot at loosening his creepy tree-hugger.

A thousand thoughts and variations went through his head in a split second: wind speed, distance, thrust and angle. Then, as he threw his arm up, pine cone in hand, all those thoughts stopped. There was nothing more than him, the pine cone and his target.

His arm dropped.

He watched in amazement as the pine cone carried on with its oncoming path down. Aided by gravity and the extra thrust of his arm, the cone sailed down just as the creature looked up towards its prey. A mistake on the creature's part because the pine cone’s target hit right into its face, blown apart into many pieces and getting right into the creature's vulnerable eyes.

The creature screamed in pain and, since both its claws were lodged tightly in the tree, there wasn't anything it could do immediately to get rid of the debris in its face. The delay made it worse as the creature tugged harshly to pull away from the trunk and the failing action caused it to dislodge and fall heavily to the ground.

He looked down at the creatures gathering around its fallen companion and he smirked.

This little bird can bite.

The pack leader looked back up and growled, deep and throaty. “You can't stay up there forever, kid! You have to come down eventually!”

No way. He'll stay up here just fine until he's out of pine cones or options.

His life kind of depended on it.

He was able to grab for the next pine cone in retaliation when there was another scream and primal growl coming from somewhere in the bushes behind them. The bush rustled violently and a man came crashing out of it.

This man was not like the other creatures, although he growled like them. The man looked human for one and the second the group saw the man and the strange looking blade he griped in his hand, they all took a step back as if afraid of the stranger.

Oh, come on! He just backed them off with nothing more than a pine cone and this guy comes out alone and, suddenly, there is the threat.

He was totally not feeling the 'im' in impressed right now.

“Dean!”

Or maybe the guy isn't alone after all...

Another man came up on the other side of their little chaotic circle. With dark nautical clothing, it would have looked as if the man missed port by a whole ton of miles.

“Dean, what did I tell ya about running off on your own? We cannot pick a fight with every vamp or wolf that comes our way.”

That sounded like a New Orleans accent. Light, but distinctive. He wasn't that far off about the port, then. Is that where they were? The trees looked more like Pacific Northwest but he wasn't sure what he could believe at this point.

The man, the first one who showed up, looked up and set his eyes right at him. He suddenly knew why the creatures were backing down. The look on the man..this Dean..was feral. He had a feeling this guy could hunt each one of those things down with that sharp, boney-looking blade and he wouldn't even bat an eye at each whack made.

The other man must have looked up to the tree because he heard an 'Oh'. A little bit of realization as to the situation.

“Why is there a child here?”

Another voice, gravelly and grim came from behind him and it took all in him not to slip and fall. He may have been focused on the conversation below him but he was totally not okay with the idea of not hearing anyone coming up behind him. When he did turn to look at the new intruder to his 'maybe rescue party', he saw a dark-hair man with a stubble beard and in a trench coat. Of all things to wear.

Curiouser and curiouser.

“You tell me, Cas,” Dean growled back. “What kind of monster takes on the form of Little Red Riding Hood?”

“Dean-”

'Cas' never had the chance to answer because one of the creatures decided he didn't like the idea of being surrounded (yeah, like he enjoyed that feeling either) and decided to attack the second man on the side, probably thinking he was the weaker of the group.

He probably did slip a inch off the branch when New Orleans changed. *Physically* changed. Something happened to the guy's mouth because within seconds he had fangs sharper than the overgrown dogs baying at the base of his tree and his eyes gleaned like reflectors.

Seriously?

The rest took the clash between the two monsters as a signal and split up, half going towards Dean and the rest towards Trench Coat Guy. He wasn't sure how well these men were in a fight between a pack of monsters, but he was also certain he wasn't going to let these three think he was some kid in need of rescuing.

It may have looked it, but he was pretty sure he wasn't. It was a lot easier now to be on the offense when he now knew he had someone to watch his back.

Don't be afraid to ask for help when the odds are against you.

He took the cape off and shook it out, making sure it would be durable enough for what he planned. The small branch he was sitting on groaned under his weight as he stood up, but it was a short burden to bear.

The next second, he was flying.

He caught himself quickly jumping down onto the branches below in much the same way he went up. Only this time, like the pine cone before, gravity left him a faster and more dangerous projectile as he headed straight for the closest creature about to take off Dean's head.

He planted the cape right onto the creatures head instead, wrapped it around and effectively blinding the creature from its goal to maim one of his 'rescuers'.

“Kid!”

He wasn't paying attention to the yell. He was too busy doing a back flip off of the creature in order to get away from any dangerous pointy bits and managed to kick the creature in the head in the process. When it looked like he just winded the beast, he did another flip forwards, his hands on the ground and pushed off with a twist to aim another kick at its head.

This time, the creature laid on the ground, clocked cold, never even having the chance to escape from the cape thrown upon it.

Two tries? That was a bit disappointing in his mind. He grabbed the cape from the creature and put it back on before moving onto the other creatures-

-only to find the rest were taken care of by the others. The last of the creatures, Mr. Leader of the Pack, was last, leaning against the very tree he just jumped out of, showing off the grisly, sharp teeth he had clearly missed the size of when he was up high.

The leader snarled and hissed in a last stand attempt before Dean, as cool and steady as an android, threw his blade behind him and decapitated the creature clean through its neck. The head lobbed off and rolled right past the two of them before it rested next to one of its peers.

Also without a head. He looked around the ground and quickly realized that the creature he fought was the only one still breathing. The rest...

What has he gotten himself into?

“Kid.”

He snapped out of his shock quick enough to see Dean with New Orleans take a step closer towards him and he was *not* okay with that. He jumped towards Dean. Dean stopped and raised his blade in retaliation but wasn't expecting for the jump to land high over him and used Dean's shoulders to vault himself up back to the branch the creature tried to climb onto before.

As suspected, the branch held his weight just fine and he crouched down, ready to get higher if the threat came close again.

He could do this all day if he had to.

And, crazy enough, he might actually have to.

Seriously, what is going on here?

“Seriously?” Dean echoed. “We have kid monsters running around here too?”

“Dean,” Cas tried to call attention, but Dean wasn't having it. He turned to New Orleans instead.

“What do you think, Benny? A monster killed too soon or a kid turned into a monster?”

New Orleans...Benny sighed and gave a dejected look to his companion. “Dean...”

“Shape shifter? Werewolf? Vamp? May-maybe a vamp like you, Benny.” There was just a hint of desperation there, like Dean was trying to keep it together just by a thread.

“Dean!”

Benny didn't struggle when Dean pushed him into the tree trunk. He didn't even bat an eye when Dean didn't think he got his point across and slammed him again. “You've got to give me something! A vamp means he was born human. A vamp we can take him with us! A vamp we can sa-”

Dean stopped himself as he realized what he was doing and took a shaky breath before releasing Benny. Slowly, he rubbed his face and paced back and forth a bit. Both his companions waited for Dean to calm down before they said anything.

“Dean.” It was trench coat Cas who broke the silence. “He's not a vampire.”

Dean hung his head, his fists clenched tight.

“The kid's human,” Benny finished off.

Dean's head snapped up to Benny, his eyes wide in shock before looked straight up to the branch he was sitting on. All three of them looked right at him.

He did not appreciate the scrutiny.

“Human!” Dean sounded shocked and in awe. Maybe a little angry as well. “I thought I was the only human in this hellhole! What is a kid doing here?”

“I don't know, Dean,” Cas responded. “I do know he is radiating the same type of energy here that you are. None of the monsters have that type of presence. He is clearly human.”

Benny rolled his eyes and huffed. “Maybe you should try asking him how he got here.”

The vampire, the human and the...whatever-he-was all waited in expectation, waiting for the answer to a question they haven't technically asked.

Dean's patience was apparently wearing thin. “So? Who are you and how did you get into Purgatory, kid?”

The million dollar question indeed.

“I...I don't know.”

He was in Purgatory? The only purgatory he knew was the in between of life and the afterlife.

Was he dead?

“What do you mean you don't know?” Dean growled.

He jumped off the branch, did a back flip and landed on the other side of the three men. He might believe that they weren't an immediate threat to him right now seeing that they seemed to be helping him, but he didn't like the idea of him being trapped up there while they were having this conversation. If things ever went south, he'd be in a much better position to defend himself on the ground with a large enough gap between this group.

“I mean... I don't remember.”

“You don't remember how you got here,” Dean clarified.

“No.” Clearly he was going on the defense here from the way Dean and the rest of his posse stared at him with a mix of surprise and disbelieve.

Dean sighed. “Then how about a name?”

That was met with silence. He looked down to slightly scuff the dirt with his sneakers, trying hard not to think about why he couldn't answer. When he looked back up, eyebrows lifted from Dean's face as there was dawning realization.

“You don't remember your name either?”

He shrugged. What could he say?

“A kid with no name.” Dean groaned and threw his head up to the sky. “You have got to be kidding me.”

Cas took a step closer, studying and scrutinizing him in a way that might be a bit to uncomfortable. He took a step back to match the distance between them. He still had no idea what this guy was. All he knew was that he wasn't human and he got the 'powerful being' vibes that told him he didn't want to mess with.

“You have no recollection to your past?” Cas asked. “None at all?”

_No! Rob-_

“Rob! My name is Rob.”

Dean turned his head away from the heavens back to him. Benny lifted an eyebrow and Cas just watched the situation as it played out.

“...I think.... Maybe?”

Dean sighed. “Great. This is going to be great.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Be strong, saith my heart; I am a soldier;  
> I have seen worse sights than this.”  
> ― Homer, The Odyssey

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some warnings on this chapter: It's Dean's POV so there will be some swearing (but it's Dean. There will certainly be swearing anyway.) 
> 
> And this story is not betaed or anything like that. Any errors is all on me and my own. 
> 
> Enjoy.

“So...” The kid (freaking hell, a kid. What was he, like eight? Nine? Christ.) seemed more relaxed as he took steps away from their rag tag group. Dean allowed him. Hell, if it helped, he wasn't going to fault the kid for being wary of them. Caution kept hunters, young and old, alive. 

If the kid went too far from them, however, that wasn't going to fly. These woods were too dangerous for him to be alone. 

It was better for all of them if they stuck together. Dean kept repeating that in his head since he got here. (Findcasfindsamstaytogetherstaysanestay-). No matter what, he had to believe that any situation was survivable when he had someone at his back. 

Did the kid have anyone? 

“Where are we?” the kid asked. 

“Hell,” Dean responded, realizing too late who he was talking to. Benny, he noticed in the corner of his eye, shook his head and looked to the sky with a quiet murmur of what he assumed was a prayer for patience. What did he expect? Sammy was usually the one to talk to panicked civilians, kids included. His job was usually to shoot at anything that tried to kill them. 

“This is not Hell,” Cas offered. “This is Purgatory.” 

The words 'figuratively speaking' was lost on the angel long before any of them was an apple in anyone's eye. 

“Yeah, you mentioned that before. Where is it exactly?”

The kid took another step away from them and Dean's fingers itched to grab him and pull him back. He held back though and forced himself to stay still, lest the kid decided to rabbit at any sudden moves. The way his eyes quickly moved from Dean's hands, down to Dean's feet and back up his face, Dean had a funny feeling that the kid knew exactly what Dean was trying not to do. 

And much to Dean's aghast, the kid actually gave a small smirk and took another step back as if daring him to take action.

Son of a bitch. 

Cas, not noticing (or, more likely, not caring) about the brat's silent ESP experience, continued on with his mini-lecture. “It is an alternate dimension where monsters and...other beings go when they are killed or destroyed.”

“It's the afterlife for Monsters'R'Us,” Dean summed up for the Cas-illiterate. 

“Other beings?” The kid seemed to stew on that for a few moments. 

He seemed to assess Benny for what he saw now and what he saw before, hesitating before dismissing him as a 'not-now-threat'. The kid had some good instincts. 

He turned to Cas and his eyes narrowed at the mystery to what he was potentially facing there. Dean decided to let him wait a little on that since he had to wait for the big reveal when he first ran into the 'Angel of the Lord'.

Granted, Castiel was more impressive in his 'Angel Glory', the wings, and missing the whole 'I nearly destroyed the world with my madness' sad vibe he currently had going.

Finally, he looked back to Dean and studied him the longest. He wasn't sure what the kid was thinking about. Usually, kids start panicking at the sight of a crazed madman with a bloody ax after watching him chop the head off of a werewolf. 

The kid was not what Dean was expecting. 

“Not humans,” he concluded, more acknowledging than asking. 

Benny confirmed with a nod. “Dean was the first human I came across since I've been here.” 

“And now there is you,” Cas finished.

Dean leaned over to Cas and stage whispered, “Are you sure?” It may still look like a tiny black-haired child, but a part of Dean was too desperate at the thought of 'Not Alone' that there was a possibility he conjured up some very twisted form of human company. Another part couldn't believe any innocent child would end up in a hell-hole like this. There wasn't much proof that this thing was anything normal. 

...Much proof except Cas glaring back at him in what he learned to be a 'you-are-an-idiot' face. He hadn't seen that in such a long time to a point he didn't realize he missed it until he was seeing the full force of it. 

“How did you get here?” the kid challenged. Okay, clearly distrust was a two-way street. 

“Hitched a ride with some Leviathans. You?”

Ouch. Double stereo with the glares now. 

“Don't remember...Remember?” the kid responded with a bit more sarcasm than required. 

“All right.” Dean held his non-axe hand up in surrender. “We'll forget the entrances for now. Let's work on the exits.” 

The kid perked up at that. “There's a way out?”

Dean pointed his thumb at Benny. “Benny says there's a one-way street outta 'Monsterville' for humans. If you're as human as they say, you should be good to go.”

“Why should I trust him?” the kid asked as he leaned to the side to regard the vampire behind Dean. 

“I trust him.”

The attention went back to Dean. “And why should I trust you?”

“Because we're your only way out of this hellhole. And you wouldn't last a day out here alone.” 

He expected the kid to get mad at the truth, but the kid just arched his eyebrows up and tilted his head in thought as if considering the challenge. 

Was he that reckless as a kid? The second the question came to his mind, the response came immediately after. 

'Yes, you jerk.' 

The response may have sounded like Sammy but Dean chose to ignore that fact. Instead, he turned to the vampire behind him and waved his blade in the kid's direction. Dean's instructions were clear. 

Benny stared at him and shook his head in confusion. “What?”

Or maybe Dean's instructions were not that clear. 

“Tell the kid what you told me. About the portal.”

Benny took one more look to the sky (Did vampires still believe in God? If so, Dean had some bad news.) before directing his gaze to the kid behind. “There is a-”

Dean turned back around at Benny abrupt start only to find what Benny noticed first. His backside was devoid of the kid. 

“Son of a bitch! Are you kiddin-” 

“Dean!” 

He looked to Cas and did not like the urgency he heard. Usually, things went from 'bad' to 'up-shit-creek-with-no-silver-bullets' bad when Cas yelled at him in that tone. 

“Leviathans!” 

The ground rumbled. 

Crap. Crap. 

“Dean,” Benny tensed, ready to run. “We have to go.”

Double crap.

“Benny.” 

Dean didn't yell the name. He didn't even raise his voice over the growing rumble. Still, the sound of it felt loud and desperate. 

Benny understood. After all they've been through so far, Benny had this half-sigh, half-huff that meant he knew exactly what Dean was going to say next. 

“Not without the kid.”

“Yeah,” Benny shook his head in resignation and pulled out the knife he hid under his shirt. “Not without the kid.” 

Three black streaks of Leviathan goo flew over their heads and crashed to the ground not too far from where they stood. In each crash site, the goos solidified and molded into human shapes. The threatening creatures ended up in the forms of two average-looking men and a pretty brunette. 

“Hello Dean,” the brunette greeted. 

Figures. Brunettes always ended up being his downfall.  
At least Dick Roman wasn't among the group. He wasn't sure how long his luck was going to hold until they ran into the biggest dick of them all. 

The chomper bitch looked behind him and then over her shoulder in search of something. 

“Where is Castiel?” she asked him. “We felt him. We know he was here.” 

It took everything in Dean not to look behind him to where he last saw the trench coat. A part of him cheered on Cas for getting out of danger, probably in some noble attempt to divert the Leviathans. The other part wanted to strangle the angel for failing and leaving their asses hanging out to dry...again. 

Dean did what he did best and gave his most charming feral smile. “You just missed him. I guess it's you...” Dean assessed the two males behind her. “...and your little friends to keep us company.” 

Chomper Bitch did not look impressed. “I'm going to enjoy eating you, Dean Winchester.” 

“Ya know, if I had a nickel for every time I heard that-”

The Leviathan ran at him. Talk-time was over. Time to fight. 

He learned a few things in his time in Purgatory. He learned to keep any and all blades within ready-reach. He learned to sleep with his eyes open. He learned the most efficient way to take down his prey. 

Most important, he learned to be fast. Monsters did not mess around. 

So it probably came to Chomper Bitch's surprise when Dean was not only ready for her attack, but managed to countered her speed, throwing her into a tree. 

The impact nearly tore the tree down, but there wasn't even a dent to Chomper Bitch. She merely brush her head to clear the splinters in her hair and glared at Dean with the promise of death in her eyes. 

Dean glared back at her, aware of the fact that there were still two other Leviathans and a vampire duking it out somewhere behind him. His head was screaming at how vulnerable he was, but he had to trust that Benny was watching his back.

She came at him again, this time attacking him with strength instead of trying to ram him. As he ducked from a punch with enough force to surely kill him, he swung his weapon deep into her forearm. 

The blade stuck in there like a tree trunk and pain shot up Dean's arms from the sudden stop. He didn't have time to register the psychical sensation; he held tight to the axe and wrenched it free from his mark, causing more black goo to bleed from the open wound and for Dean to collide hard with the ground. 

He rolled over onto his side and tried to get up as fast as he could, but his body just wasn't going along with the plan. The ringing in his ears sounded too much like that bell they rung in 'Rocky'....which, well, made sense. He felt like he just got the one-two punch. 

Leviathan. Right. Time to 'float like a ghost, sting like wraith'. 

“Is this some sort of joke?” 

It took a moment to clear his head to realize she wasn't talking to him. Looking up from the ground, he first saw a flash of red, then heard a youthful laugh that came off just as much 'creepy' as it did 'playful'. 

Oh, Hell no. 

Somewhere in his disappearing act, the kid found some kind of tree branch and was holding it like a staff, one that was too thick for the kid to wrap his hands around all the way and had to as long as the kid was tall. 

And the kid (the freakin' kid he didn't want to leave behind in the first place) was standing over Dean as if he was going to try to protect him. 

Hell-Heaven-and-Purgatory-no. 

He lifted both his feet up and kicked the kid out of the way. 

“Umpf!” 

The kid might suffer from a few bruises from the effort, but it was a way better option than a full-fledged Chomper enjoying him like an appetizer. 

Unfortunately, the move to push the kid in one direction, also left him exposed to the threat coming at them in the other direction. Dean barely had time to roll far enough away to get the space he needed to fight. 

But by the time he managed to get up, the kid already recovered and was going in for Round Two. 

The Chomper Bitch gave a smirk at the on-coming Tonka truck and Dean knew he there wasn't enough time for him to stop what was going to happen next.

“No!”

…Except what happened next was a tree branch to the face. 

He was fast. Certainly faster than any Hunter Dean had ever seen. Somehow, the given speed and momentum cracked the branch onto the Leviathan’s head hard enough to...not hinder her, but to certainly make it hurt. 

The kid didn't wait for a reaction. He rolled, pushed back into the air and came at her again with the same force as before. 

By the time the kid was going back for strike three, Chomper Bitch was pissed enough to morph into her all-teeth form. The kid wasn't even phased. He adjusted the swing to aim for the mouth, took two hands on each side of the branch and pushed her back like she was some sort of rabid dog. He had to if he wanted to avoid losing any hands. 

Chomper Bitch chomped down on the branch and sliced it in half in a wave of splinters. The kid pulled back, somehow managing to hold onto two intact ends in each hand. There was a slight shift in his stance to compensate for the change in weapons and he was ready for the next attack. 

Enough was enough. 

Dean looked around for the axe he lost in the last struggle and discovered it lying on the ground close to the battle at hand. By then, the kid managed to shoved one of the shorter sticks inside the mouth of the chomper in an attempt to stop her mouth from closing onto his head. It gave him the time to move away, but he lost one half of his paired set when she bit into it. 

Dean leaped and rolled onto his axe, bringing it up with him as he swung it towards the Leviathan. 

“Duck!” 

The kid followed orders like a dream, dropping as soon as Dean followed the axe through the monster's throat. The joy of this particular weapon was that it sliced through like butter, causing the upheaval of one head and throwing it away from the duo. 

He watched it hit the ground, feeling a little more than satisfied that the hissing from the head was not going to cause any more trouble for innocent humans. 

Dean took a couple moments to recollect his breath and let the adrenaline wear off before he turned to Rob and pointed his axe at him to make a point. 

“Look. Rule one of Purgatory: I do the hunting. Got it?” 

But Rob didn't react to the lecture. He was staring at Dean (Really? The kid wasn't even out of breath after all that.) in much the same way as he was before. He look at him with wariness, like he was trying to decide whether or not trust was on the table. 

“Who's Sam?” 

That was not the question Dean was expecting. “What?”

“'Sam'” Rob clarified. “You yelled it before you pushed me away.” 

Dean was going to ignore the glare he was getting. He was not going to apologize to some brash kid who may or may not be able to kick a Leviathan’s ass. 

“I did?” He might have. There were a lot of things going on at the time. 

“Yes, you did. So who's Sam?” Rob asked again. 

Dean gave him the only answer he was ever really proud of. 

“He's my brother.” 

“Oh.” Rob fell silent as he process all his information. Dean wasn't sure what he would have done if he had ended in this hellhole with no memories and no idea who he could trust. He was having a hard enough time here with what he did know. 

Rob must have decided. He slowly nodded his head once as if to stabilized his judgment and faced Dean with renew determination. “Where are the others?” 

Crap. 

He knew Cas was already gone to wherever he went when he got into emo-mode. It was going to take time again to find the angel and pull him out of his self-sacrificing ass...again. 

Dammit, Cas. 

Benny though...

Dean heard the sounds of vampire-on-leviathan battle about a half a mile away. As he ran over, he noticed one male body was already lacking in its head. The other was already headless by the time Dean got to the vampire. 

“What? You didn't want to leave one for me?” Dean asked as Benny recovered from the battle and changed back into his human form. 

“You had your own. And it looked like you had all the help you needed,” Benny joked as he watched Rob approach the group. 

If he didn't know any better, Dean could swear Benny was making fun of him. “Well, the kid has some moves," he defended himself.

Benny and Rob both observed the other. They still looked wary of the other (A vampire and a kid in Purgatory. This is his life.) but Benny gave his 'charming' smile to Rob and asked Dean, “So I assume we are keeping Rin Tin Tin.”

Dean sighed. This really was like keeping a puppy, wasn't it? “Yeah, we're keeping him. Let's go find Cas.”


End file.
